As museums and cultural institutions prepare to reopen, many are facing considerable challenges and new hurdles. Across the globe, organizations have been tasked with rapidly creating new approaches, exploring models of operating, and serving their audiences with limited resources. To tackle these challenges, cultural professionals are turning to their colleagues within the field, as well as seeking inspiration and guidance from other industries to generate fresh ideas and leverage new networks.
To help bring together innovative thinkers from inside and outside the museum field, this webinar will take the form of a museum “Think Tank.” Last Wednesday, over 2,000 people joined Brendan Ciecko (CEO & Founder @ Cuseum), Douglas Hegley (Chief Digital Officer @ Minneapolis Institute of Art), Effie Kapsalis (Senior Digital Program Officer @ Smithsonian Institution), Bob Mason (Co-Founder @ Brightcove / Managing Partner @ Argon Ventures) & Claude Grunitzky (Visiting Social Innovator @ Harvard Kennedy School) as they broke down some of the most pressing challenges currently facing the museum field and offered up interdisciplinary solutions and ideas.
Watch the full recording here.
Here are a few of the biggest takeaways from the conversation.
Facilitate New Dialogue Using Digital Technologies
One of the most valuable roles a cultural organization can serve is not simply broadcasting one-way content to audiences, but by creating completely new, two-way dialogues. In light of COVID-19 and the broader digital transformation, panelists were able to offer insights into how cultural organizations can best leverage digital to facilitate such opportunities for new connections and voices.
“We have objects in our museum from every culture, every time period in human history. Who is talking about them? Who’s voice are we centering on? Any object, any relic, any historical concept is an opportunity for dialogue.”
– Douglas Hegley
This is important so that institutions are not focused on simply serving as an authority, but also embedding community perspective into their content. Effie Kapsalis noted how in her work at the Smithsonian Institution, they are focusing on representation and community dialogue.
“Looking across our organizations with the 19 museums, we’re taking a step back and looking at what representation really looks like. This stimulates really good dialogue.”
– Effie Kapsalis
Bob Mason, Co-founder of Brightcove and Managing Partner at Argon Ventures also noted the expansive power of digital to promote storytelling. As the board member at The Trustees, a dynamic organization that operates numerous natural sites, historic properties, gardens, and museums, Bob observed that the extensive offerings within a museum can reach a wider audience if offered virtually. Technology, he noted, can help promote more connectivity between the past and present; digital technologies also support the capacity to have different dialogues and spaces to share.
Sparking Innovation and Experimentation on a Small Scale
Often, the first step towards generating new approaches in museums and cultural organizations is experimentation. To encourage fresh ideas and innovation, there are structures and initiatives you may consider putting into place. Cultural institutions can promote internal creativity by offering resources, such as a modest grant system, to pursue experiments.
For example, at the Trustees, Bob created a grant program to motivate internal staff to create their own projects for the institution. The results are already promising!
As an organization committed to preserving land, nature, and historic places in Massachusetts, one team at the Trustees wanted to experiment with a new project that could improve conservation efforts. This team was able to receive a small amount of funding to test out a drone, which could take pictures and videos from the sky, to evaluate the conservation restrictions on their property and figure out how they could build efficiencies into their models. Although this project may not have direct connections to audience engagement, it built long-term sustainability by improving internal operations. Such initiatives can also foster a collaborative environment to better engage staff with internal innovations.Similarly, the San Diego Natural History Museum manages an Evolutionary Venture Fund to encourage experimentation and growth of this nature.
Setting Yourself up for a Successful Digital Transformation
While experimentation can be an exciting way to innovate and move forward, it is equally important to think through how successful ideas can be scaled. When executing new ideas, there is a common misconception that organizations can go from successful experiment to full production immediately. It is vital to develop practicable goals around implementing new ideas and focus on sustainable transformation.
Where resources may be limited, there are a number of ways to move forward with new projects. For example, at the Trustees, Bob follows a multi-step process to innovate internally.
The first step is to create a series of open forums that bring in experts for discussion with the internal staff, guests, and the community. At such forums, people can discuss topics like the future of digital technology within the realm of their own organization.
The second step is getting internal approval and incorporating the ideas from the forum into a strategic plan. Not only does this involve creating a plan, but it also requires aligning all staff and board members on these initiatives.
The final step involves imparting this transformative mindset to other staff and working to shift the organizational culture.
“We went through a process of looking for experts within our community to essentially form an internal technology task force, which was led by and staffed by board members , advisory council members, and other volunteers. We play a very active role in revising, reviewing, and educating internal staff members of the possibilities of technology and help guide them through that process.”
– Bob Mason
Transformation is a series of small steps, and it’s essential to think through the process from end-to-end to ensure successful and meaningful change.
Offer Opportunities for “Outsiders” to Generate New Ideas
Where resources may be limited, one dynamic way to generate fresh ideas in the cultural sector is by looking to the outside. Through hosting special opportunities to engage outside perspectives (such as hosting residencies, charrettes, and hackathons), or by offering internships to students, museums can benefit from new perspectives while offering real world experience and a nice resumé-booster for those involved. Claude Grunitzky at Harvard Kennedy School’s Social Innovative and Change Initiative (SICI) program was inspired by the work of his students and spoke to new opportunities he saw for museums and cultural organizations
“I would love for us to ideate around students who are mostly digital natives to invent solutions that can help larger institutions to reinvent themselves with digital strategies that will help gather large audiences.”
– Claude Grunitzky
To bring outside perspectives into museums, Claude recommended forging new types of partnerships. These might be with local schools, universities, technology collectives, but there are also many opportunities to expand the pool of talent global through remote engagement. With an outside perspective of the museum, unexpected ideas and solutions are bound to emerge.
Although there may be various challenges and limited resources at-hand, organizations can strive to find different innovative ideas that will help navigate through future reopening plans and beyond. To facilitate dialogue with the community, institutions can implement the many exciting applications of digital technology through a multi-step process. These options can be effective ways to introduce new ideas, build a more engaging culture, and launch your organization into the future.
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